The Olympics have a history spanning over 2,000 years, although the Olympics we know today were reintroduced in 1896 and have progressively added more sports to its calendar every four years.
Is soccer in the olympics? Soccer is part of the Summer Olympics, however, the age limit is set to 23 on the men’s side and each team is only allowed to have 3 over-age players. Women’s soccer, which are also part of the olympics, has no age limit.
Soccer At The Summer Olympics
Soccer wasn’t a part of the inaugural Olympic Games in 1896 but has been a part of every Summer Olympics since, apart from the 1932 Olympics when it was left out due to the promotion of the First World Cup in 1930.
A big benefit of having soccer at the Summer Olympics is the crowds, which often fill stadiums, especially in the later stages of the tournaments. The extra income and press coverage this brings to the IOC is always a welcome addition to the Olympics.
While some nations feel Olympic soccer is very low on the list of most prestigious and coveted trophies to win, many nations view winning the Olympic soccer tournament as a great honor. Brazil, for instance, even being one of the most successful World Cup teams of all time, is incredibly supportive of their national team when competing for Olympic gold in soccer.
After being runners-up to Mexico at the 2012 London Olympics, Brazil went one better at the Rio 2016 Olympics, winning gold on home turf to jubilant scenes throughout the country.
One of the most iconic scenes of the entire Olympics is of Neymar, the face and chief hope of the Brazilian squad, in tears after scoring the winning penalty to seal a 5-4 victory over Germany, the team who had humiliated Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-finals two years earlier.
How Are The Squads Made Up?
The current format for team selection is that each nation should only field players under the age of 23, with the allowance that each team can take a maximum of three players over the age of 23 as part of their squads.
The major reason for the need to have under 23 squads is to ensure that the Olympic soccer tournament is a less prestigious competition than the FIFA World Cup, which is the de facto number one soccer tournament.
There are other factors, such as making the Olympic tournament more competitive, as teams are unable to pick a squad comprised of older, world-class players. And in keeping with the Olympic history of athletes being amateur rather than professional, an under 23 competition also appeals.
In the spirit of keeping the Olympics for athletes with less professional experience, the Olympic Committee decided on squads being comprised of under-23 players would cover every angle of keeping the World Cup and the Olympic tournament as completely separate entities.
Now that three is space for three older players in the squads, teams have a blend of both youth and experience, and this can often help less experienced teams progress much further than originally expected, which helps promote the Olympics ethics of healthy competition.
Which Teams Can Enter The Olympics?
Six continents are permitted to have National teams in the Summer Olympic soccer tournament, with a total of 16 nations competing. The 16 teams are split into groups of four teams, with each team playing the other once. The top two teams from each group then move into the knockout rounds.
In the knockout rounds, the remaining eight teams play a single knockout game, consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then the final itself.
The continents allocated national places at the Olympics are:
- Europe – 4 nations
- Asia – 3 nations
- Africa – 3 nations
- South America – 2 nations
- North America – 2 nations
- Oceania – 1 nation
- Home Nation automatically qualifies
Each continent has its own qualifying criteria, usually from a specific under-23s tournament to decide which nations can qualify.
Although in Europe, the nations that qualify are selected from the finalists of the UEFA U-21 Championships, which are held every two years, and give two tournaments winners and beaten finalists the chance to compete at the Summer Olympics.
Key Rules Changes
Having an Olympic soccer tournament comprised of amateurs only works well if each nation is actually fielding amateur players. And while most continents and nations adhered to this principle, nations in Eastern Europe, especially between 1948 and 1988, often bent the rules in their favor.
Due to many Soviet-bloc nations’ athletes being state-sponsored, this meant that a team of, say, American amateur soccer players would find themselves playing a state-run team from Yugoslavia, where the athletes’ sole occupation was to play soccer, with some even having fake job roles to keep their appearance as an amateur.
This twisting of the rules meant that from 1948 to 1988, 25 out of the 34 Olympic medals were won by teams from Eastern Europe. This led the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to change the rules for the 1984 Las Angeles Summer Olympics, and permit professional players to play.
A clash with FIFA, who feared a loss of prestige for the World Cup, meant a compromise had to be reached, and so any nation outside of Europe and South America was permitted to field their best players. European and South American players who hadn’t played in a World Cup could also play, which, it was hoped, would level the playing field.
By 1992, the IOC had changed the rules again, to what is now the standard rules for Olympic soccer tournaments. Teams of under-23 players only were allowed to play for their national teams, although this again changed, in 1996, to permit 3 over 23 players into each squad.
These rules have remained in place since 1996, and at present there are no plans to alter them for any future tournaments, in all likelihood due to both the IOC, and FIFA, being content with the status quo as it is.
Is Women’s Soccer In The Olympics?
Women’s soccer has been a part of the Summer Olympics since 1996. Although, unlike the men’s tournament, only 8 teams were a part of the first competition.
The increase in the popularity of the women’s game, combined with the improvement in international women’s soccer, led this to increase to 10 teams by the 2000 Olympics.
By 2008, the number had increased again, to the now-standard 12 teams, although it is likely this will eventually increase to the 16 teams that are the current men’s format too.
Similar to the qualification to the men’s tournament, the host nation automatically qualifies for the Women’s Olympic Soccer Tournament, and the remaining 11 berths are divided between the same 6 regions as the men’s tournament.
Given the dramatic increase in coverage of women’s soccer leagues worldwide, especially the World Cup, Olympic soccer has been a huge boost to the stature and exposure of women’s soccer
One of the only differences between the men’s and women’s tournaments, apart from the number of teams competing, is that there are no age restrictions in the women’s tournament, whereas the men’s squads can only field three over-23 players, the women’s national teams have no such restrictions.
Is Olympic Soccer Here To Stay?
Given how long soccer has been a part of Olympic history, it seems set to stay a major sport in the forthcoming Olympics too, and with the meteoric rise of women’s soccer, the two competitions look set for a bright future. With that said, Olympic soccer has and never will be as popular as the Euros or the World Cup.
With the 2024 Olympics set to be played in Paris, a fitting result given it will be exactly 100 years since the French city last held the Olympics, and then in 2028 the games will hop across the pond to Los Angeles, soccer will be a huge part of the Olympic Games for both cities.
French soccer fans will embrace any opportunity to watch quality soccer and will get to see their homegrown under-23s give an expected strong performance, and the USA teams, especially the very strong women’s national team, will be hoping to bring home the GOld medal in 2028 on home soil.
